 Here Major is pretty well roughed in when I made the aluminum wire skeletons for the two girls. Before bending the girl’s legs, each girl was scaled to be about 4’10” in relation to the 17hh gelding. The broken toothpicks sticking out of his shoulder and eye are placed to measure that each side of the body is equal in conjunction with a line etched down the midline.
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 Here Diane is pretty well finished and placed on Major’s rump, and her girlfriend is taking shape. Major already has his jeweler’s wax halter and mane done. The pink ears are made of baked Super Sculpey over very fine Aluminum mesh, and the tan forelock is the same very hard clay I use for fine details.
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 This close-up shows a detail of Diane on the tin can manikin for the butt of the horse. Using this method I am able to work on her without messing up the actual horse. The braid is twisted aluminum wire covered with a thin layer of very hard clay. The braid was created with Diane sitting on Major and then cut across just above the tail where Diane would be lifted off his back for casting.
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 This close-up shows Diane’s girl friend sitting on the tin can I used to support her while working on her details. The hanks of Major’s mane and her hands were done in Super Sculpey.
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 Here is Major Undertaking in the clay, ready to take to the foundry. At the foundry they lifted each girl off and marked small x’s in the clay where knees and feet touched the horse so the bronze girls (who were cast separately from the horse) could be placed accurately on Major’s back before being welded from inside and closing the window in his stomach through which they worked.
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Major Ready to Harness evolved out of viewing Major Undertaking without the girls when I thought it would be fun to show the fully decorated horse standing up just waiting for the next step. To that end the foundry sent me the waxes of both head and body so I could work the finished mane and tail before casting.
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 Major’s body in wax before I reworked the point that is the cut off tail braid into a knot with a rosette around it
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 Major’s head in wax before I continued the braid down to the notch that shows in the mane Draft horse manes are only braided about 2/3 of the way down their necks so that they do not interfere with the correctly seated collar. Note the two grooves on the side of the neck that were matched up with matching marks on body to weld together correctly.
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The most difficult piece to sculpt was Major’s handler lifting the heavy Scotch Collar in Harnessing Major. I also reworked Major’s head to make him look more alert, opening his half closed eyes and closing his relaxed mouth.
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 Major’s reworked head in the clay. Since the original clay head was not destroyed in making the mold, the foundry was able to send it to me to be reworked.
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 Major’s collar was built to fit correctly by first shaping aluminum mesh, then covering the mesh with hard clay, and building the hardware of aluminum wire, jeweler’s wax, and jewelry findings. The handler’s hands were attached to the collar, and the entire collar and hands slid over saran wrap covered bronze Major’s head to be sure it fit correctly.
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 Working on correct fit and placement of Major’s harness, I covered his head and neck with saran wrap. The line across the handler’s forearm shows where the collar and hands were removed to slide the collar over Major’s head.
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 The Major Trilogy
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